Deathwing by William King, David Pringle, Neil Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

man's eyes
     went wide with horror. He
     was
     looking past
     Two
     Heads
     Talking
     and
     into
     the
     night.
     The
    Librarian turned,
     and
     from the
     mist, shapes
     emerged.
    One
     was
     the
     fat
     man
     who
     earlier
     had
     been
     riding
     in
     the
     palanquin.
     Flanking
     him
     were
     two
     huge
     four-armed
     figures. Their carapaces
     glistened
     like oil. They
     raised large claws which glittered in the
     moonlight.
    "We
     would have
     told you
     all this
     if only you
     had
     asked."
     said
     the
     fat man, gazing at
     Two
     Heads
     Talking
     with
     his
     dark, magnetic eyes.
    The Librarian flexed his fingers, and
     his force axe hummed a song
     of death
     in his hand.
     
* * *
     
    "It
     was in
     the
     time
     of
     Commander
     Aradiel, a
     hundred
     summers
     gone,"
     said
     Bloody
     Moon.
     "We
     were
     aboard
     the battlebarge Angelus
     Morte
     on sector
     edge
     patrol when the
     alarms went off. Sensor probes
     indicated
     that
     a space
     hulk had
     dropped
     from warp space
     near us.
     Deep scanning
     revealed
     nothing.
     We were ordered
     to investigate.
    "We
     crouched within
     the
     boarding
     torpedoes
     and
     were
     fired
     at
     the
     hulk.
     It
     was
     unpowered
     and
     dark
     when
     we disembarked,
     so helmet
     lights
     on,
     we
     moved
     to
     secure
     the
     perimeter.
     We
     met
     no
     resistance,
     but
     as
     per standard operational
     procedures,
     we proceeded
     with extreme caution.
    "We
     identified the
     hulk
     as
     Prison
     of
     Lost
     Souls,
     an
     appropriate
     name
     as
     it
     turned
     out.
     We
     moved nervously through the shadowy
     corridors,
     for the
     taint of the
     warp still hung about
     the
     craft. It made us
     uneasy."
    "At
     first, there
     was no sign
     of danger.
     Then
     we came across
     the
     bodies
     of some Space Wolves.
     They
     had
     been
     riddled with
     bolter
     fire.
     We
     could
     not
     guess
     how
     long
     they
     had
     lain
     there
     - perhaps
     since
     the
     hulk
     had
     last
     entered normal space.
     It might have
     been
     ten
     years
     or ten
     thousand
     - we did not
     know. The tides
     of warp space
     are
     unpredictable,
     and time flows strangely
     there.
    "Brother
     Sergeant
     Conrad ordered
     us
     to be wary. Then
     a terrible thing
     occurred.
     A Space Wolf's corpse
     sat
     upright.
     its eyes
     glowing crimson. 'You are doomed.' it told us.
     'Every one
     of you
     will die as
     I have.' We riddled it with
     fire
     from
     our weapons,
     but
     still its horrible whispers
     echoed
     in our minds.
    "We
     began
     to
     fall
     back.
     All
     around
     us,
     Blips suddenly
     appeared
     on
     our
     sensors.
     They
     were
     running
     parallel
     to
     us, trying
     to cut
     us
     off from the
     boarding
     torpedo.
    "At
     corridor
     intersections,
     we caught
     sight
     of
     armoured
     figures.
     We
     exchanged
     a
     few
     shots
     with
     them.
     I
     hit
     one
     and heard
     its
     scream
     over
     the
     comm-link.
     They
     were
     using
     the
     same
     frequencies
     as
     we
     were.
     When
     we
     realised
     that,
     our blood
     ran cold. We asked
     ourselves:
     could these
     be Marines?
    'We did not
     have
     long
     to
     wait
     for
     an
     answer.
     They
     swarmed
     down
     the
     corridor
     toward
     us
     in
     a vast
     wave.
     They
     were garbed
     in the
     armour
     of
     Marines,
     but
     they
     were
     horribly
     mutated.
     Some
     clutched
     rusty
     bolters
     in tentacles
     instead
     of hands.
     Some had
     faces
     that
     were moist and
     green
     and
     slimy like toads.
     Some had
     claws
     and
     extra
     limbs.
     Some
     dragged themselves
     along, leaving a trail of mucus behind
     them.
    "The
     mark of Chaos
     was upon
     them. They
     called on Horus